The defender suffered a nightmare hamstring blow last month and was initially ruled out until November
10:01, 17 Sep 2025Updated 10:06, 17 Sep 2025
Celtic star Alistair Johnston
Celtic star Alistair Johnston has revealed he’s ahead of schedule on his comeback from injury.
The Hoops defender has been sidelined since suffering a nasty hamstring injury in last month’s Champions League playoff first leg with Kairat Almaty.
Johnston, 26, looked in real discomfort as he was stretchered off and feared that he would face a lengthy spell out of action.
But the Canadian breathed a sigh of relief after scan results showed he wouldn’t require surgery. And now he hopes to get back on the pitch quicker than expected after initially being ruled out until November.
He told the Park the Bus Podcast: “When the injury originally happened, I feared the worst, but it’s a pretty significant injury still.
“I’m actually ahead of where I thought I was going to be, but still a long way to go. I’m not really going to put a timeline on it just yet, I’m just kind of taking it day by day.
“The plan is that honestly I feel really good, and that’s almost the hardest part of the full thing, is that I feel like I’m ready to go out there and play but I know there’s still a lot of boxes that need to get checked before I can get back to my full level.
“I’m just taking it day by day but hoping to be back in a nearer future than probably originally expected.”
Johnston has been lucky to avoid injuries throughout his career and admits the early-season setback has been a shock to the system.
He said: “We’ve got guys in our team who have history with them. Obviously Kieran Tierney came up to me and said, ‘Did you hear a pop?’
“I didn’t think so but I’d never done a muscle before to even know if I felt or heard a pop. But I think that’s when I was like, ‘Okay, it’s going to be serious but hopefully not the worst case scenario’.
“The scan backed that up as well. It’s a serious injury but it wasn’t one that needed surgery which was a massive thing for myself, not only at the beginning of a club season but also for the national team perspective coming into a World Cup year.
“It’s the last thing you want starting off a season but I was lucky to a degree that it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.”
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